By CATHY ARONSON
HAMILTON - The Hamilton City Council and Waikato District Council are not giving up on their fight to reduce the number of councillors on Environment Waikato.
They have appealed to the Local Government Commission after Environment Waikato rejected their joint proposal to reduce council numbers from 14 to 13 by electing one Taupo councillor instead of two.
The councils also want the Hauraki and Matamata Piako Districts to combine into a Waihou constituency which would be represented by two councillors.
The two councils are contesting the regional body's decision because they believe that fair and effective representation has not been achieved for the region.
They say that the number of councillors should be based on population and that only minor consideration should be given to land area and capital.
The regional council uses a formula of 75 per cent population, 12.5 per cent on area and 12.5 per cent on equalised capital.
The councils want that changed to 90 per cent population, and 5 per cent each for area and capital.
Waikato District Council Mayor Angus Macdonald said the present formula meant that some councils were overrepresented and some penalised.
Mr Macdonald said Hamilton City, Waikato and Waipa districts had seven members for a population of 213,440.
This compared with seven members for the rest of Waikato's population of 153,320.
He maintained that Northern King Country and Taupo had inflated membership as they had large areas of sparsely occupied and unoccupied land.
The Local Government Commission will consider the appeal from the Hamilton City Council and the Waikato District Council, and may hold a hearing as part of the regional council's membership review.
The review is required in the year before a local body election.
Battle to reduce Environment Waikato's councillors goes to appeal
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